Press Release: Mandela’s Way by Richard Stengel

“Nelson Mandela has walked a long road, and Richard Stengel’s artful distillation of the lessons learned along the way is a gift. Through anecdotes both heartwarming and heartbreaking, this uplifting, inspiring volume makes Mandela’s hard-won wisdom accessible to anyone who wants to play a part in making the world a better place.”

— Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea

“MANDELA’S WAY takes us into the inner life of one of the most of important heroes of the century. There are lessons here that could radically change the way you live your life.”

— Deepak Chopra

“MANDELA’S WAY is a timely and welcome reminder of this great man’s political genius, personal integrity, and peerless instinct for survival and triumph. Every world leader should keep MANDELA’S WAY within easy reach.”

— Tom Brokaw

Nelson Mandela, “the grandfather of South Africa,” is a true hero, revered throughout the world. The tenets that have guided his life and shaped his remarkable journey are now accessible to all in MANDELA’S WAY: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage (on sale March 30), by Richard Stengel, editor of TIME magazine, with a preface by Mandela himself.

For nearly three years, including the critical period when Mandela moved South Africa toward the first democratic elections in its history, Stengel collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography and traveled with him everywhere. Eating with him, watching him campaign, hearing him think out loud, Stengel came to know all the different sides of this complex man. Though they began as colleagues, Mandela ultimately became a cherished friend. It was Mandela who urged Stengel to marry the South African woman who became his wife, and who eventually became godfather to Stengel’s first son. “Anyone who has spent much time with Nelson Mandela knows it is not only a great privilege but a great pleasure,” Stengel writes. “MANDELA’S WAY is a ‘thank you’ for the time and attention he gave me, and a gift to others who were unable to receive the benefit of his generosity and wisdom.”

MANDELA’S WAY is a distillation of their countless hours of conversation into what Stengel sees as fifteen core truths of Mandela’s life—truths we would all be wise to live by. Each truth is expanded upon and brought to life with examples of its application in Mandela’s own life. They are:

Courage is not the absence of fear.

Be measured.

Lead from the front.

Look the part.

Lead from the back.

See the good in others.

Keep your rivals close.

Have a core principle.

Know when to say no.

Know your enemy.

It’s always both.

Love makes the difference.

It’s a long game.

Quitting is leading too.

Find your own garden

In an interview, Stengel can discuss:

• Mandela’s four-word answer to Stengel’s repeated question of how prison changed him—and why Stengel believes this is the deepest clue to who Mandela is and what he learned there.• Why in the three years Stengel spent with Mandela he came to see him as a man of many contradictions—a great human being but “no angel.”• The characteristics Mandela found essential to being a successful leader. • One of the sharpest criticisms he ever heard Mandela level at anyone.• The very modern understanding Mandela had of the symbolic importance of appearances, and of cultivating one’s own image.• Who he believes will be Mandela’s successor on the world stage.• Mandela’s most lasting legacy.• The most illustrative stories from Mandela’s life, as well as some of Stengel’s favorite stories from his time with Mandela.

“I loved him; he was the cause of so many of the best things that have happened in my own life,” Stengel writes. “When I left his side when [his autobiography] was finally completed, it was like the sun going out of my life.” MANDELA’S WAY captures the spirit of this extraordinary man—warrior, martyr, husband, statesman, and moral leader—as well as the deep friendship that evolved between a writer and his subject. It spurs us to look within ourselves, reconsider the things we take for granted, and contemplate the way we approach our life and the legacy we’ll leave behind.

About the Author

Richard Stengel is the editor of TIME magazine. He collaborated with Nelson Mandela on his bestselling 1993 autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and later served as coproducer of the 1996 Oscar-nominated documentary Mandela. He is also the author of January Sun: One Day, Three Lives, a South African Town. Stengel is married to Mary Pfaff and they have two sons.